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Elchin Mammad is the president of the Social Union of Legal Education of Sumgait Youth, an NGO providing free legal assistance to families on low income.He is also the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Yukselish Namine. In 2014 the authorities launched criminal investigation targeting several NGOs, including Social Union of Legal Education of Sumgait Youth. Elchin Mammad was summoned and questioned several times by Sumgait police and placed under travel restrictions in connection with the investigation. In 2015 he was detained for 12 hours and released without charges, after he had taken part in the session of the Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe (PACE).

In 2013, the government of Azerbaijan started a widespread crackdown on civil society, arresting prominent government critics, including human rights defenders and political activists, on fabricated charges, mostly of financial irregularities. Spurious charges of economic crimes and “abuse of authority” are commonly used in Azerbaijan to incarcerate leaders of independent NGOs and other critics of the authorities. Amnesty International has documented arbitrary application of criminal law in recent years in relation to some of the government’s most prominent critics including human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers. The authorities have recently stepped up crackdown on critics again using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse.
 

Tofig Yagublu is a journalist and a prominent member of opposition party Musavat and he has faced years of harassment for his peaceful activism.

He was first arrested in 2013 after traveling to the city of Ismayili, in northern Azerbaijan, on 23- 24 January 2013, to observe demonstrations and riots that were taking place there at the time. In March 2014, following unfair trial under politically-motivated charges, the Shaki Court of Grave Crimes found him guilty of inciting mass violence and sentenced him to five years in prison. Amnesty International recognised Tofig Yagublu prisoner of conscience. 

On 5 November 2015, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that by depriving Tofig Yagublu of his liberty without having reasonable suspicion of a criminal offense, Azerbaijan violated his rights under Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights (Yagublu v. Azerbaijan, application no. 31709/13). Tofig Yagublu was released in March 2016 under a presidential pardon after spending more than three years in prison. 

In October 2019, he was placed in “administrative detention” for 30 days for purportedly failing to obey police orders, at a peaceful protest rally brutally dispersed by police. Tofig Yagublu alleged that he was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in detention, but his allegations have never been effectively investigated. 

For years, Amnesty International has been documenting human rights violations in Azerbaijan. The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly have been severely restricted and many journalists, human rights defenders and other activists have faced harassment, prosecution under false charges and imprisonment following unfair trials. According to Azerbaijani human rights defenders, currently, around 100 individuals remain in prisons or in detention following arrest under politically motivated charges. This practise has repercussions throughout civil society in Azerbaijan, creating a climate of fear and self-censorship. As the arrests and politically motivated prosecution of critics continue, Azerbaijan remains closed to human rights scrutiny. International human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, have been denied access to the country for several years.
 

Good news

Arbitrary detentions of government critics are commonplace in Azerbaijan. Numerous activists, opposition members, journalists and human rights defenders have been prosecuted for merely exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and detained and imprisoned under politically motivated charges.

Recently, the Azerbaijani authorities have used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to lock up a growing number of their critics. On 19 March, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced “new rules” for the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic, and promised to “clean up” Azerbaijan’s political opposition, which he called traitors and “the fifth column”. (https://en.president.az/articles/36212). Arrests of high-profile political activists and human rights defenders under spurious charges have followed the President’s pronouncement, including the arrest of opposition activist Tofig Yagublu on charges of hooliganism (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR55/2029/2020/en/) and human rights defender Elchin Mammad on charges of theft (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur55/2069/2020/en/). 

More than a dozen individuals, comprising of political activists, journalists, human rights defenders and others who dared to criticize the authorities’ handling of the pandemic have been detained and remanded in so-called administrative detention for periods ranging from 10 to 30 days on bogus charges, including disobeying police orders or breaking the rules of lockdown. (https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/EUR5524122020ENGLISH.pdf).

As the arrests and politically motivated prosecution of critics continue, Azerbaijan remains closed to scrutiny from independent human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, who have been denied access to the country for several years.
 

Ilkin Rustamzade, an activist and then member of the pro-democracy youth group NIDA, was arrested in March 2013 on fabricated charges of hooliganism. He had allegedly posted a satirical video on YouTube. Authorities later added charges of inciting violence and organizing mass disorder for planning a peaceful protest rally in 2013. In May 2014 he was sentenced to eight years in prison following an unfair trial, together with seven other members of NIDA. He spent six years in prison and was released on 17 March 2019 further to a presidential pardon, but his unfair convictions were not quashed.

On 7 March 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had ruled that Ilkin Rustamzade was detained unlawfully, in violation of his right to liberty and security under Article 5.1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Recently, the Azerbaijani authorities have used the COVID-19 pandemic to increasingly crack down on their critics.

On 19 March 2020, in his Novruz Bayrami greetings to the nation President Ilham Aliyev announced “new rules” for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic including “isolating” and “clearing” Azerbaijan’s already fragmented political opposition (https://en.president.az/articles/36212). High-profile arrests of political and civil activists under spurious charges have followed the president’s pronouncement, including the arrest of opposition activist Tofig Yagublu on charges of hooliganism (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR55/2029/2020/en/) and human rights defender Elchin Mammad on charges of theft (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur55/2069/2020/en/). 

As the arrests and politically motivated prosecution of critics continue, Azerbaijan remains closed to human rights scrutiny. International human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, have been denied access to the country for several years.
 

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